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Biology Chapters 1 and 2 Test

True/False
Indicate whether the statement is true or false.
 

 1. 
The study of biology includes things that were once living and those alive today.
 

 2. 
It is important to study the genetic makeup of other organisms because information in their genetic makeup may hold information about our own.
 

 3. 
A single entity has been discovered that shows many of the characteristics of living things including growth, organization, and the ability to maintain homeostasis. However, because it does not reproduce, it is not considered a living thing.
 

 4. 
Peer review allows others in the field to assess a scientist’s investigations and results.
 

 5. 
After observing tadpoles swimming in the water, you could infer that all amphibians have gills.
 

 6. 
Nitrogen is a limiting nutrient for many food webs because the element is relatively rare.
 

 7. 
All the biogeochemical cycles involve both biotic and abiotic reservoirs.
 

Multiple Choice
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
 

 1. 
Which of the following are likely topics in a biology course?
a.
Why does the Texas horned lizard squirt blood out of its eyes?
b.
How is a banded pipefish able to hide in its environment of seaweeds?
c.
What chemicals cause plant stems to lengthen or flowers to bloom?
d.
All of these.
 

 2. 
Which of the examples shows a response to a stimulus?
a.
mc002-1.jpg
c.
mc002-3.jpg
b.
mc002-2.jpg
d.
mc002-4.jpg
 

 3. 
Which of the following would most likely be the major focus of a biologist?
a.
bacteria found in hot springs
b.
the composition of water in hot springs
c.
the temperature of hot springs
d.
the location of hot springs
 

 4. 
A person studying a topic is presented with new information that conflicts with previous findings. What would a scientist do in this situation?
a.
ignore the new information
b.
argue against the new information
c.
evaluate the new information
d.
keep the new information to himself
 

 5. 
What is the basis of the metric measurement system?
a.
Its measures are based on divisions that are powers of ten.
b.
It is based on European measurement standards.
c.
It is the only scientific measurement system.
d.
It is based on the wavelength of krypton-86 radiation.
 

 6. 
Which best explains the importance of understanding science?
a.
It allows us to perform experiments on a variety of living things.
b.
It allows us to determine which endangered species are worth saving.
c.
It allows us to be educated in issues important in today’s world.
d.
It allows us to understand different ways of measuring things.
 

 7. 
Which of the following is an observation?
a.
You record the air temperature every day for a week.
b.
You propose that a cold front is approaching.
c.
You hypothesize that the temperature will increase tomorrow.
d.
You conclude that the season is changing.
 

 8. 
Which is an inference?
a.
You measure a plant’s height every day for a week.
b.
You give a plant the same amount of water every day.
c.
Every day for a week, you collect data on a plant’s movement.
d.
After watching a plant for a week, you determine it needs more sunlight.
 

 9. 
Tasha is testing the effect of blue-colored light on the growth of tomato plants. Which is the independent variable in this experiment?
a.
light color
c.
amount of light
b.
light intensity
d.
temperature of light
 

 10. 
A person studying a particular field has published her findings. The findings are not testable by others. This person is most likely studying which field?
a.
astrology
c.
chemistry
b.
biology
d.
physics
 

 11. 
Some birds are known as honey guides because they may be followed by humans to wild beehives. When the humans take honey from the hives, the birds are able to feast on the honey and bees, too. This type of relationship can best be described as ____.
a.
parasitism
c.
mutualism
b.
commensalism
d.
symbiosis
 

 12. 
Cougars are predators that often eat weakened or diseased animals. This is a description of the ____ of cougars.
a.
habitat
c.
niche
b.
community
d.
none of these
 
 
nar004-1.jpg

Figure 2-1
 

 13. 
Referring to Figure 2-1, suppose 10, 000 units of energy are available at the level of the grasses. What is the total number of energy units lost by the time energy reaches the coyote?
a.
90 units
c.
9900 units
b.
990 units
d.
9990 units
 
 
nar005-1.jpg

Figure 2-3
 

 14. 
In the energy pyramid shown in Figure 2-3, which level has the smallest number of organisms?
a.
fox
c.
grasshoppers
b.
birds
d.
grass
 
 
nar006-1.jpg
flea

Figure 2-4
 

 15. 
The organism shown in Figure 2-4 is involved in which type of symbiosis?
a.
mutualism
c.
parasitism
b.
commensalism
d.
predation
 

 16. 
Organisms with overlapping niches probably have which type of relationship?
a.
commensal
c.
mutualistic
b.
competitive
d.
parasitic
 

 17. 
How long are food chains?
a.
four steps long
c.
it varies with day length
b.
three steps long
d.
it varies with ecosystem
 

 18. 
Which of the following nutrients has only a short-term biogeochemical cycle?
a.
carbon
c.
oxygen
b.
nitrogen
d.
phosphorus
 

 19. 
Which process describes nitrogen fixation?
a.
animals eat plants containing nitrogen and return it to the soil through urination
b.
bacteria take nitrogen from the air and convert it to a form usable by plants
c.
organisms die and are decomposed into ammonia in the soil
d.
plants take nitrogen from the air and store it in their roots
 

 20. 
Your favorite plant is growing very slowly, and you would like to find some way to increase its growth rate.  Which of the following should you try increasing first?
a.
nitrogen
c.
sodium
b.
oxygen
d.
calcium
 

 21. 
Some farmers use manure on their crop fields.  How does this help the plants?
a.
protects them from intense sunlight
b.
keeps insects from eating the crops
c.
increases soil nitrogen and phosphorus levels
d.
increases soil oxygen and carbon dioxide levels
 

 22. 
Which of the following allows the flow of energy through an ecosystem to happen?
a.
abiotic factors
c.
evaporation
b.
cycling of nutrients
d.
predation
 

 23. 
Which location would most likely hold autotrophs that derive their energy from chemical compounds?
a.
swamp sediments
c.
grassland soil surface
b.
antarctic pools
d.
desert rocks
 

 24. 
One of the nutrient cycles moves from an atmospheric gaseous form to the soil through both abiotic and biotic processes, moves through the food web, then is returned to the soil or to the atmosphere.  Which cycle fits this description?
a.
carbon
c.
phosphorus
b.
nitrogen
d.
water
 

Short Answer
 

 1. 
Compare and contrast growth and development.
 

 2. 
An important theme in the study of biology is how living things depend upon other living things. Discuss how humans depend on other living things and how living things depend on humans.
 
 
The graph in Figure 1-2 shows the three stages in the growth of a corn plant from a seed to a mature plant. Study the graph and then answer the questions.

nar001-1.jpg

Figure 1-2
 

 3. 
What do you think is happening during the lag period in Figure 1-2?
 
 
Paramecia are single-celled, microscopic organisms that live in freshwater environments.
A student prepared several covered slides of paramecia in freshwater. The student added different stimuli and observed the behavior of the organisms under the microscope. The diagrams in Figure 1-3 show what the student viewed.

nar002-1.jpg

Figure 1-3
 

 4. 
What purpose (for the observer) does observing the response to a piece of food serve? Use Figure 1-3.
 

 5. 
Discuss how a biologist might carry out quantitative and descriptive research on a species of monkeys.
 

 6. 
An electromagnet can be made by wrapping insulated wire around an iron nail and connecting the ends of the wire to a 6-volt battery. HYPOTHESIS: Increasing the number of coils of wire wrapped around the nail increases the strength of the electromagnet, as measured by the number of paper clips the magnet can pick up. Identify the independent and dependent variables.
 

 7. 
Compare and contrast the ways carbon and water cycle through the biosphere.
 

 8. 
Compare and contrast a food web and a food chain.
 

 9. 
List and describe the various levels of biological organization that may be studied by an ecologist.
 
 
nar007-1.jpg

Figure 2-6
 

 10. 
Use the diagram in Figure 2-6 to complete Table 2-1. Classify each member of the food web as autotroph or heterotroph, and identify the heterotrophs as herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores.

Table 2-1
Autotrophs
Heterotrophs
Herbivore, carnivore,
or omnivore
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 

 11. 
When a grouse (a type of bird) eats berries, the berry seeds are eliminated as waste materials and may be dropped in another part of the forest where they may sprout and eventually grow into new berry plants. How would you classify the relationship between the berry plant and the grouse? Explain your reasoning.
 

 12. 
Ecologists study the attributes of a biological community to learn about how it works. These attributes include the number of species and the number of different kinds of species interactions. What attributes would an ecologist study about a population to understand it?
 

 13. 
Briefly describe the habitat and niche, highlighting their differences, of a mallard duck.
 

 14. 
Most food webs are drawn with arrows between organisms that are all the same thickness. Why might you want to draw a food web with arrows of differing thickness and what would these differences represent?
 

Problem
 
 
nar003-1.jpg

Table 1-2
 

 1. 
Make a graph that compares the growth of the plants as shown in Table 1-2.
 
 
A scientist wrote the following summary of her observations:
Milkweed is a plant commonly found throughout fields and pastures and along roadsides in eastern and central North America. It gets its name from the milky white sap that oozes when the plant is broken or cut. Milkweed plants bloom in June and July. When fertilized, the flowers form large seedpods that open in the fall. The following observations were taken from a scientist's field study of milkweed plants from spring through fall.
In the summer, the sugary nectar secreted by the milkweed's flowers attracts many bees, butterflies, moths, and a variety of smaller insects that carry away pollen when they depart. Milkweed nectar seems to be the major source of nutrition for several species of small moths, flies, mosquitoes, and ants. Monarch butterflies, which visit in large numbers, lay their eggs on milkweed plants, and the hatching caterpillars feed on the leaves. As fall approaches, milkweed bugs begin to attack the developing seeds, and milkweed beetles eat the foliage.
Aphids, which suck milkweed sap, are found throughout the year. Crab spiders do not feed on the plant itself, but rather on most of the insects that visit the plant. In the two to three weeks while the milkweed plants are in bloom, successful adult female crab spiders may increase ten times in mass before laying their eggs on the inner surface of leaves. Some species of flies and wasps, which feed on crab spider eggs, visit the plants periodically. Harvestmen, also known as "daddy longlegs," recover the remains left by predators.
 

 2. 
How would you describe the symbiotic relationship between the milkweed plant and aphids?
 

 3. 
From the scientist's data, infer which abiotic factor affects milkweed. Explain how the data support your inference.
 

 4. 
Based on the scientist's observations, what is one food chain that begins with a milkweed plant?
 

 5. 
What would you call a patch of milkweed plants plus all the organisms that visit or live on the plants?
 

 6. 
Did this scientist perform quantitative or descriptive research?
 

Essay
 

 1. 
A new entity has been found. Scientists are trying to determine if it is living or non-living. The entity has only the following characteristics: uses oxygen, requires energy, can move, and gets bigger over time. Evaluate the preceding characteristics of the substance and decide if it is alive or not. Defend your answer.
 

 2. 
Tyrone knows that using fertilizer will result in more blooms, but wants to know if it will affect a plant’s growth as well. Explain the design of an experiment that would answer this question.
 

 3. 
Discuss whether you think food webs change over time (for example, in the course of a year) and why. Suggest examples to back up your arguments.
 



 
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